Uptake of influenza vaccine among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island adults in north Queensland, 2003.

The uptake of the vaccine in at-risk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island adults in north Queensland in 2003 was determined using the state-wide computerised immunisation register. The uptake in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island adults > or = 50 years was 63 per cent, and assuming that a third of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island adults 15-49 years of age had a medical risk factor, 85 per cent of those at-risk were vaccinated in 2003. There were considerable improvements in vaccine uptake in both age groups in the Cairns, Charters Towers, Mackay and the Tablelands Health Service Districts (HSDs) in 2003, but there were been considerable declines in both age groups in the Innisfail and Mt Isa HSDs in 2003 compared to 2002. There was also a decline in uptake in adults 15-49 years of age in the Townsville HSD.